What are Apprenticeship Projects?
Projects are the bridge between learning concepts and delivering real value to your team. Throughout the programme, your apprentice is required to complete projects that demonstrate specific Knowledge, Skills, and Behaviours (KSBs) relevant to their module. You can learn more about assessments here.
These are not ‘assignments’ or ‘essays’. They are an opportunity for your direct report to solve real business problems using their new skills; e.g automate manual tasks, or challenges that have been lingering on your team’s backlog to tackle.
Your Role as a Manager: Align, Unlock, and Guide
You do not need to be a subject matter expert in their programme content to be effective here. You’ll likely know more about the organisation & business goals, whilst they’ll likely know more about the new skills. Your role is to help connect the two.
Here is how you can support them at each stage:
Stage 1: Alignment (Goal Setting)
Your role: Don’t wait for them to guess what is valuable. Guide them towards projects that will genuinely help the team,
Manager Tip: Look at your team’s "Someday/Maybe" list—the tasks you never get around to. These are often perfect apprenticeship projects.
Stage 2: Access (Data Gathering)
Your role: Learners often hit roadblocks with permissions, data access, or stakeholder time.
Manager Tip: Proactively ask: "Do you have the data access you need for this?" or "Do you need an intro to [Person X] to get the background info?"
Stage 3: Impact (Business Value)
Your role: Help them see the bigger picture. Your report might just see a spreadsheet; you see time saved for the Q3 audit.
Manager Tip: Explain why their project matters to the wider department or company strategy. This narrative is crucial for their End Point Assessment (EPA).
Manager Coaching "Cheat Sheet"
We actively encourage learners to ask their manager questions about business pain points, to help identify high impact projects. However, we’ve included example prompts below to use during conversations / 1:1s to help stimulate project ideas where needed.
If you want to... | Ask your apprentice... |
Ideate Projects | "Based on the module you just finished, what is one manual process on our team you think you could improve?"
"We are currently trying to solve [Problem X]; how would you approach that using the skills you're learning?" |
Unblock Them | "Are you hitting any red tape or blockers with data access or software permissions?"
"Who do you need to speak with to understand the history of this data?" |
Define Value | "If this project is successful, how much time/money could it save the team?"
"How can we measure the success of this? What does 'good' look like to you?" |
Project Inspiration: The "Art of the Possible"
Sometimes it is hard to visualise what an apprentice can actually build. We’ve shared some examples to help spark ideas for your own team.
Examples by Department
If you are unsure what technical skills they have, look at the business problems common to your function.
If you manage a team in... | A High-Impact Project could be... |
Education & Student Success | Retention Analysis: Leverage analytics to monitor student performance trends and identify at-risk students earlier.
(Outcome: Improved retention rates by ~10%) |
Professional Services | Workflow Dashboards: Create a view to monitor admin workflows (admissions/service requests) to spot bottlenecks.
(Outcome: Reduced response times by ~25%) |
Finance | Real-Time Budgeting: Move away from static spreadsheets to advanced forecasting models for departmental expenditure.
(Outcome: Reduced budget variances by ~15%) |
HR & OD | Talent Tracking: Build a data-driven system to track staff development and training participation for succession planning.
(Outcome: Improved employee retention by ~15%) |
Accreditation & Compliance | Automated Reporting: Automate the compliance reporting required for university accreditation.
(Outcome: Saved £150k annually in operational costs) |
Need more ideas?
Manger Tip: Remind your apprentice to use their Project Ideas Generator for inspiration. We recommend asking them to use the tool and bring their top 3 options to your next 1:1 for discussion. Below are real-world examples of projects delivered by apprentices in a specific industry.
Examples by Industry: Higher Education
If you need a recap on what skills they are learning and when, check their delivery plan on your Apprentice Manager Dashboard here.
Reporting & Dashboards
The Problem: Manual, scattered data reporting.
The Project: A Student Registry Dashboard with row-level security.
The Impact: Saved 100 staff hours monthly by allowing self-service access.
Other Examples: Graduate Outcomes Dashboard; Admissions Analytics (reduced offer lag by 1 day).
Process Optimisation
The Problem: Clunky, paper-heavy workflows.
The Project: Re-engineered the Enrolment Workflow.
The Impact: Reduced data-entry steps from 8 down to 3, significantly speeding up the student experience.
Other Examples: Overhauling room-booking procedures (75% error reduction); Grant application cleaning.
Automation & Tool Development
The Problem: Repetitive administrative tasks.
The Project: A KPI Alert Slack-bot.
The Impact: Automatically pushes key metrics to team channels, removing the need for manual daily updates.
Other Examples: SharePoint request-tracking app (90% reduction in misroutes); Supplier-payment visuals.
Predictive Models
The Problem: Reacting to problems after they happen.
The Project: Summer Enrolment Time-Series Forecast.
The Impact: Guided resource allocation before the rush to meet anticipated demand.
Other Examples: Lab equipment maintenance model (20% less downtime); Price elasticity models.
Oversight & Feedback
You can track project submissions and timelines via the Line Manager Dashboard. Further details here.
Manager Tip:
Schedule a 15-minute "Project Check-in" separate from your standard operational 1:1s once a month. Use this time purely for feedback on their project approach. This mirrors the advice we give learners and ensures they feel supported without dominating your day-to-day agenda.